Andy Byford

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Instead, eight TTC transit enforcement officers, including an Ajax man, fired for allegedly issuing fake provincial fines, are being accused of using work time to run personal errands: shopping, surfing the web and, in at least one case, visiting a girlfriend.

One officer, who sources say is married with children, was allegedly driven to meetings with a girlfriend by other officers under his supervision. One officer was driving to Milton during his shift, Star sources alleged Wednesday.

"These guys just weren't working," said one source.

TTC officials and police remain tight-lipped about the findings of their joint investigation, which concluded that 20 per cent of the TTC's transit enforcement squad wasn't always on the job when it was supposed to be.

Although the alleged ticket scheme wouldn't bring any profit, the TTC is considering whether it can recover some of the wages it paid for work it contends wasn't being done.

"We are looking at options with respect to time theft and what we might do to recover some of the money that was, in essence, stolen from us by not working. Whether or not we would be successful legally is another question," said TTC spokesman Brad Ross, who confirmed that civil action is being considered.

Four of the five transit cops arrested on Tuesday earned between $102,000 and $129,000 in 2011, including overtime. Enforcement officers' base pay ranges from about $60,000 to $85,000.

But besides the alleged ticket fabrications, there's no evidence the officers were doing anything criminal or even working extra jobs, said Mr. Ross.

Five of the eight officers fired have been arrested, however, on charges of attempting to obstruct justice and fabricating evidence. Michael Schmidt of Barrie, a sergeant on the TTC force; Svetomir "Tony" Catic, 45, of Oakville; James Greenbank, 48, of Milton; Jan Posthumus, 44, of Toronto; and Neil Malik, 38, of Ajax, are expected to appear in College Park court next month.

With the matter now before court, Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash said he could not comment on what the officers were alleged to be doing during work hours, but confirmed there were no criminal implications.

It's alleged the officers wrote hundreds of fake provincial tickets in the names of homeless people with no fixed address -- people who sometimes use the transit system for shelter, a place to loiter or to panhandle.

The TTC doesn't generally issue tickets to homeless people. It works with the city and shelters to try to assist them. But some difficult individuals are occasionally cited for a provincial offence. The fabricated tickets -- many of them written up as loitering and solicitation fines for $195 -- would never have reached the people named.

Reached by the Star, Mr. Schmidt said he couldn't comment on the allegations.

"This is all very fresh," he said. "I wish I could, but it's all before the courts."

Both Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Catic, who was reached in Oakville, say they're retaining lawyer Gary Clewley, who has defended many GTA police officers accused of wrongdoing.

There are four platoons of uniformed TTC enforcement officers; the fired officers worked in two of them.

Officers work in three shifts between 6:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., seven days a week. They write tickets for fare evasion, panhandling, loitering and other offences, and work with police to respond to safety and security issues, medical emergencies and crowd control. They carry batons and handcuffs, but not pepper foam.

They usually come to work at the TTC's Davisville headquarters, change into uniform and then report for "parade," a rundown on what's happening in the system. They patrol, usually in pairs, on foot and in TTC vehicles, returning to Davisville after their shift.

The TTC's investigation, which included surveillance and GPS tracking on vehicles, was launched after patterns in the tickets prompted a closer look by the TTC's non-uniformed special investigations unit, which belongs to a different branch of the transit agency.

The news that eight out of 42 enforcement officers were fired came as a blow to the TTC, which has spent three years trying to climb out of a pit of poor public opinion. In a written pep talk to transit workers Wednesday, Mr. Byford described the remaining officers as "decent, hard-working and honest people who do a difficult job with a high degree of professionalism.

"Their task just became that much more challenging due to the actions of a few, but I know our remaining officers will rise to the challenge," said Mr. Byford, who is in the United Kingdom on a personal matter. "This comes at a time when, through all of our hard efforts, we are beginning to rebuild our reputation.

"We will pull through this," Mr. Byford said. "Our vision to deliver a transit system that makes Toronto proud remains on track."